BIG TEN ROUNDUP : Record Crowd Sees Michigan Win, 35-10

The intrastate rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State was supposed to be all about emotions.

That was before Tyrone Wheatley let the air out of everyone’s balloon Saturday at Ann Arbor.

Wheatley ran for 172 yards and two touchdowns in 28 carries to lift third-ranked Michigan to a 35-10 victory over Michigan State in front of the largest-regular season crowd in NCAA history.

The game drew 106,788 fans at Michigan Stadium, 533 more than saw Ohio State play Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1979.

“Wheatley is a great running back,” Michigan State Coach George Perles said. “He can see the holes up front, and then he makes holes for himself in the secondary. He’ll be everyone’s All-American, and certainly is quite deserving.

“He’s a big, strong running back and the credit goes to him.”

Wheatley scored on runs of 10 and 23 yards, helping overcome a subpar performance by Elvis Grbac, who completed 11 of 19 passes for 111 yards with two interceptions. It was Grbac’s second start after returning from an ankle injury that kept him out two games.

The Wolverines, 4-0-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, broke the game open with three touchdowns in the second quarter. Jesse Johnson had a three-yard touchdown run, Derrick Alexander returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown, and Burnie Legette had a one-yard scoring run.

“We played a lousy first half,” Perles said. “If we could just play the way we did in the second half, then we’d have something pretty good. Michigan is too good to spot 28 points. They’re too good to spot even 14 points.”

Michigan controlled the ball for 35:29 and rolled up 405 yards in offense, 294 on the ground. Michigan State (1-4, 1-1) had 290 yards on offense, including 85 in 19 carries by Tico Duckett.

There was 3:18 gone in the second quarter before the Spartans crossed midfield.

“Their whole team is impressive, offensively and defensively,” Perles said. “Wheatley did a great job on offense, and they had a swarming defense. If they play as a team, if they keep going, there’s no telling where they’ll be ranked.”

Michigan State tight end Mitch Lyons broke Andre Rison’s school record for catches. Lyons caught 12 passes for 119 yards.

Iowa 23, Wisconsin 22--Jim Hartlieb threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dean with 55 seconds left and passed to Dean for the two-point conversion to give the Hawkeyes a Big Ten victory at Iowa City.

Carlos James preserved Iowa’s second consecutive last-minute victory over the Badgers by blocking Rich Thompson’s 53-yard field-goal attempt as time expired. The Hawkeyes won, 10-6, last year on a touchdown pass with 44 seconds left.

Iowa (2-4, 1-1) avoided its worst start since 1978 and continued its mastery of the Badgers (3-2, 1-1), whose last victory over the Hawkeyes was in 1976. Wisconsin upset Ohio State a week ago.

Hartlieb drove Iowa 80 yards in 13 plays for the winning points after Wisconsin went ahead, 22-15, with 3:55 left on a 32-yard field goal by Thompson--his third of the game.

Hartlieb finished 31 of 51 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked 20 times in Iowa’s first five games but was not sacked at all Saturday.

Purdue 24, Minnesota 20--Matt Pike, who learned just before kickoff that he had lost his starting job, threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Terry Samuel with 2:21 left to give the Boilermakers a Big Ten victory at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (2-3, 1-1) withstood the aerial assault of the Gophers’ Marquel Fleetwood by intercepting four passes by the nation’s total offense leader and recovering his fumble at the Boilermaker 19.

Minnesota (1-4, 1-1) took its only lead at 20-17 on a nine-yard run by Antonio Carter and Aaron Piepkorn’s conversion kick with 4:21 to play.

Ernest Calloway brought the ensuing kickoff back 35 yards to the Purdue 38. Arlee Conners, who had a career-high 138 yards in 25 rushes, picked up four on first down and then gained 22 on a screen pass from Pike. Two plays later, Samuel made the first reception of his college career.

Fleetwood, who completed 19 of 45 passes for 245 yards, then moved the Gophers from their 20 to their 49 before freshman Bart Conley intercepted a pass at the Purdue 38.

Indiana 28, Northwestern 3--Trent Green passed 16 yards to Thomas Lewis for one touchdown and freshman tailbacks Sean Glover and Emmett Pride each scored on short runs to lead the Hoosiers at Evanston, Ill.

It was the eighth consecutive victory for Indiana (3-2, 1-1) over the Wildcats (1-4, 1-1).

An aggressive defense kept Northwestern quarterbacks on their heels with nine sacks for 46 yards. Hurvin McCormack had three sacks and Lamar Mills two.

Green completed only nine of 22 passes for 104 yards and had three passes intercepted.

The Hoosiers didn’t put the game away until the fourth quarter when Jay Davis intercepted Nick Holgorsen’s pass at the Northwestern 22. A 15-yard keeper by Green set up Pride’s one-yard touchdown run.

Reserve quarterback John Paci scored for Indiana on a two-yard run with 2:23 left.

Northwestern never could get its offense in gear and failed on two gambles, a fake punt and a fake field goal.